Part 8 (1/2)
Dezra!” (Enough! Enough!)
And as the natives alle word, they pointed to a sled on which the girls' belongings had been neatly packed To the sled three dogs were hitched, two young wolf-hounds with Rover as leader
”They want us to go,” whispered Lucile
”Yes, and where shall we go?”
”East Cape is the only place”
”And that miner?”
”It may not be he”
Three tih the line Each tirew more dense at the point she approached Not a hand was laid upon her; she could not go through, that was all The situation thrilled as much as it troubled her Here was a people kind at heart but superstitious They believed that their very existence depended upon getting these two strangers froo?
They went, and all through the night they assisted the little dog-tea the heavy load over the first thin snow of autuain Marian blessed the day she had been kind to old Rover because he was a white , for he was the pluckiest puller of theht of what appeared to be a rude shack built of boards As they came closer they could see that some of the boards had been painted and some had not Some were painted halfway across, and some only in patches of a foot or two
They had been hastily thrown together The whole effect, viewed at a distance, rese so much as a crazy-quilt
”Must have been built froe of a house,” said Lucile
”Yes, or a boat”
”A boat? Yes, look; there it is out there, quite a large one It's stranded on the sandbar and half broken up”
The girls paused in consternation It seeo back was io foras to throw theh seamen To pass around the cabin was only to face the bearded stranger, who, they had reason to believe, was none other than the man who had deht theht on to the cabin
”Mush, Rover! Mush!+” Marian threw her tired shoulders into the improvised harness, and once more theyhearts that they eventually rounded the corner of the cabin and came to a stand by the door At once an exclamation escaped their lips:
”Empty! Deserted!”
And so it proved Snow that had fallen two days before lay piled within the half-open doorway No sign of occupation was to be found within save a great rusty galley range, two rickety chairs, an i-pan
”They have given the shi+p up as a total loss, and have left in dories or skin-boats,” said Marian
”Yes,” agreed Lucile ”Wanted to get across the Straits before the co of the White Line” Marian started She knehat that er, had seen it oftener Now she thought what it would mean to them if it came before the skin-boat came for them And that skin-boat? What would happen when it ca? Would the Chukches tell theone? And if they did, would the Eskio directly to East Cape? If they did, would theyback as it did fro but a part of the sandbar?
”We'll put up a white flag, a skirt or so to herself
”Do you think we ought to go right on to East Cape?” said Lucile
”We can't decide that now,” said Marian ”We need food and sleep and the dogs need rest”